Family
by oh-the-linsanity
Summary: Various drabbles/stories where Mako and Korra adopt their own little herd of orphans and make a family.
1. luli

"I want her."

"Korra."

"_I want her."_

Mako really should have expected this, if only because he could count on Korra being unpredictable. Not in a million years would he think she'd adopt an orphan when she was barely eighteen, which is _exactly _why it wasn't all too weird. Like he had said the day he met her, this girl was crazy.

The woman running the Ba Sing Se orphanage (Daiyu, as Mako recalled from his last report) seemed to pick up on Korra's determination and didn't bother to try and sway her. "How old are you, Miss Korra?"

"Eighteen."

"Just old enough," the woman announced without one ounce of enthusiasm. She cocked her head to the back room. "Kid's back there. I'll go get your paperwork."

While Korra chose to immediately go and find the kid which she had grown so infatuated with over the past week, Mako decided to follow Daiyu to her office in the back of the building. "It's real nice of you and your girlfriend to be taking that one," she told him.

"Oh," he scratched at his cheek nervously. "She's, uh, not my girlfriend."

Again, the woman took it in stride. "So she's taking this one on by herself. Strong girl."

Even though Mako wasn't Korra's boyfriend, it didn't mean he wasn't going to help her. She'd have tons of other people too: Asami, Bolin, Tenzin. The list went on. "She won't be doing it by herself. Me and all my other friends will be around to help."

Daiyu smiled faintly. "That's nice to hear," she plucked a few papers from a large accordion folder and started shuffling back out towards the front of the orphanage. "Miss Korra knows all them airbenders, right?" Mako nodded. "Good, good. She needs airbenders."

"What do you mean?"

The woman sighed. "Well, the girl was dropped off here back when all them airbenders were popping up around the city. I guess her parents were 'fraid of gettin' caught up with the Dai Li and didn't want to deal with it. So they dropped her off here in the middle of the night. No trace of the parents. Poor thing. She don't even airbend that much, she's too tiny. A couple of sneezes that send her sky high, s'all."

While Mako hadn't been around much of the week when Korra was getting to know the little girl, he thought Korra would have at least mentioned that the girl was an airbender. "Does Korra know she's an airbender?"

"Hmm, yes, I told her that. I tell all prospecting parents that. Usually, it's what sends them running. They don't want to deal with trying to teach airbenders, don't want to get a kid and then ship 'em off to those sky high temples, you know?" Daiyu's face bloomed a soft smile. "But Miss Korra just got happier the second I told her. Those two are a good match, you know."

As Daiyu filled out her part of the forms, Korra came back to greet them, the two-year old propped up on her hip. "Luli, this is my friend Mako. Say hi, sweetie!"

Luli was absolutely adorable, a fun fact Mako kept to himself. She was a bit on the skinny side, as orphans tend to be, but she still had a healthy color to her tan skin; her eyes weren't the bright green like his brother's, but more pale and soft like the Chief's, and her hair was a wavy bob atop her head.

Mako leaned down to Luli's eye level. "Hi," he said softly, waving his fingers.

"Not you, _sweetie,_" Korra laughed as Mako blushed bright red, standing straight again. "Luli, say hi to Mako!"

It took a minute but she finally gave a tiny little smile and waved back. "Hi."

"Okay Miss Korra," Daiyu announced, sliding the papers over her way on a clipboard. "All you gotta do it fill this out and sign at the bottom, and you'll be all set."

Luli still propped to her hip, Korra managed to grab the papers, but she had a hard time writing and holding it with one hand. "Mako, could you…?"

Whether or not she wanted him to grab the clipboard or Luli, he didn't know, so he grabbed the clipboard since it was closest. He filled out all the regular information and he was almost embarrassed at the fact that he didn't have to ask her for any of the answers to the questions. He already knew everything. He only paused at the very bottom when it asked for printed name and signature of legal guardians.

Beside him Luli giggled. He turned his head and saw Korra lifting her in the air and making gibberish noises while kissing her nose repeatedly over and over again. Korra was good with kids, he'd seen it time and time again with Tenzin's children, but this was a little different. She didn't look like a big sister, she looked like a _mother _and the whole idea had his head spinning and his heart racing.

"You finally got stuck on a question?" Korra teased, her eyes entirely on her soon-to-be daughter.

It was crazy. It was ill-advised. It was something only Korra would think of doing. But something in his heart told him to do it anyway.

He scrawled his name under one of the spaces for legal guardians.

As if he hadn't just signed his name away to the _biggest _commitment of his life, he handed her the clipboard back in exchange for Luli. It took a moment for her to notice as she scanned the information for any errors, but her eyes went wide when she saw his name at the bottom. She looked up at him, stunned. "Mako…?"

He held Luli close to him, her head in the crook of his neck as she started to doze off for an afternoon nap. "Just in case," he murmured, unable to meet her eyes. "Just in case."

.

.

Even though he was legally Luli's father, it didn't change his relationship with Korra, and for that he was grateful. They remained friends. With Korra's busy schedule as the Avatar, Luli's time spent away with her was evenly divided between Asami, Bolin and himself. At times, it was much easier for Luli to spend most of her time with Bolin or Asami since she could tag along to wherever they were going without problems (Lin didn't like Mako bringing her to the office on his days to watch her) but Mako wouldn't stand for a minute less of his given time with her. Besides the fact that he adored her, Mako also felt more obligated to watch her due to his status as one of her legal guardians (a fact no one knew aside from Korra and the Chief).

"Mako?" the three year old asked from his lap as he finished writing a report.

"What is it, Lu?" he asked absently, his attention on the details of a robbery from last Tuesday.

"Who's that?"

She had pointed to his family portrait his grandmother had mailed to him awhile back. "That's me and my brother with my parents." He leaned down and whispered, hoping not to disturb his coworkers beside him. "See? Recognize us?"

Nodding, she wiggled out of his lap and climbed up on the desk; he narrowly managed to swipe his report before she sat on it. Taking the frame in her hands she stared at the picture and announced, "Your mommy's pretty."

"I like to think so, too."

"Can I meet her?"

He smiled sadly. "No, I'm afraid she died a long time ago." At Luli's frown, Mako plucked her off his desk and set her back on his lap, settling the frame on his knee so they could both look at it. "But if she were here, I know she'd love to meet you, too."

"Mako?"

"Yeah, Lu?"

"Can I have a picture?"

It took a minute for him to rewrite the meaning in his head. "You want your picture taken?" he asked, and Luli nodded. "Well, why don't you ask your mom? I'm sure she'd be happy to get one with you."

She took the frame from his hands and pointed to his father in the picture. "It can't just be me and Mommy. We need a Daddy to be a family. Will you be the Daddy, Mako?"

His heart sped up and three metalbending officers looked his way, including the Chief.

"Well," he started, careful to watch his words. From the corner of his eyes he saw Chief Beifong eavesdropping on his conversation. Nosy chief. "Families are all very different. They don't always have mommies and daddies, but they do have people who love them very much." He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, and Luli beamed, giggle and all. "You have your mother but you also have me. As well as Asami, Bolin, Jinora, Tenzin and all your other friends. All part of your family."

Lin walked by his desk and dropped a small candy on top of his report. "You even have me, kid," she smirked, before making her way back to her office.

"You even have Lin," Mako repeated with a chuckle and the shake of his head. He looked back down at Luli, who was already unwrapping the small chocolate. "Understand?"

"Mako?"

"Hmm?"

"…Will you still be the Daddy?"

He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering at her chin as he tilted her face up, meeting her eyes. "Yeah," he said, breathless. "I will."

.

.

"Okay, okay, everyone get in formation! Just like we practiced."

Mako rolled his eyes before he looked at Asami, begging for some sort of help (as if she could do anything to reel Bolin back in). She simply shrugged before she let Bolin guide her by the shoulders to the mock-stage he had set up for their portrait.

"This is big." Bolin told them, "_Huge. _One of the first ever _color _photographs!"

At the mention of color, Mako was forced to look down at his outfit and frown. "Bo, that doesn't mean _we_ have to wear _every color."_

Bolin looked offended. "It's not every color!" he squawked. "It's only shades of red. Jeez, I try to put you in something that's not grey and you freak out. It'll look great when you firebend in the photo. Contrast and all that." He paused, stroking his new goatee in thought. "Or would it be complimentary…"

"I'm not firebending in the photo," Mako deadpanned.

"Mako, don't be a killjoy."

Luli went over and tugged on the hem of Bolin's shirt. "Do I get to airbend?"

"No!" Korra and Mako shouted simultaneously. At Luli's shocked and hurt look, Korra kneeled to her level. "What I mean is, you still need a lot of practice before you can airbend –you might break something." Which was true. Her practices at the air temple had already broken a few "relics" of Tenzin's, which he was still pretty peeved about.

Mako ruffled Luli's hair affectionately, a habit which wasn't appreciated since Asami spent 20 minutes braiding it; she came over and slapped his forearm in retribution. "Next time we get a picture, okay Lu?"

"Okay, Daddy," she mumbled dejectedly, but Mako did his best to wipe that sour look on her face by swooping her up in his arms and running over to the stage where there were chairs for their pictures.

"Alright!" Varrick announced from behind the camera. "Everyone gather around. Let's make _history!_."

How they managed to stuff 15 people in a photo, Mako will never know. It wouldn't be much of a picture in terms of detail, but to a once-was orphan like himself, like _Luli, _the more people in the picture, the better.

"One," Varrick announced, "Two, Three!"

Just as the flash went off, Luli sneezed and flew twelve feet into the air.

With much practice, Korra managed to catch her with ease when she came tumbling back down. "Did you get the photo, or had Luli already sneezed herself to the Northern Air Temple?"

Varrick was contemplative but eventually he decided, "Don't worry, I got it! It'll be the best picture ever!"

A few days later, when the photo was developed, Korra and Mako discovered it had definitely _not _looked like what they had planned. Half of Luli's body was out of the frame, Lin wasn't smiling (was she ever) Bolin looked scared out of his wits, all of Asami's hair had blown into her face, and a 7 year old Meelo had managed to moon the camera.

"We're some family, huh?" Mako mumbled.

"You bet we are! But you know," Korra said, unable to stifle a laugh. "I think this really is the best picture ever."

When he set a framed copy of the photo on his desk next to the one of his parents three days later, Mako was inclined to agree.

.

.

Over the next couple of months, they got more pictures.

He put them on the mantle at his and Bolin's apartment, hung copies on his rear view mirror in his car, and even snuck some into Beifong's office when she wasn't looking. While Mako didn't really care much to see himself in pictures, it wasn't the point. He liked constantly looking at his family, his odd ragtag team of friends. It had taken so long for him to get a family back once he lost his parents that now that he had one, he wanted everyone to know.

So, Mako decided to send one of their first photographs along with a handwritten letter back to the orphanage to let Daiyu know how they were all doing: Luli's airbending has gotten better, she eats green vegetables now, Korra taught her how to swim last week. And before you ask, no, Korra's still not my girlfriend.

Weeks later, he had gotten a reply back in the form of a tea stained note, and a blank marriage license.

_Just in case._

_—Daiyu_

Mako smiled.

.

.

AN: this isn't a continuous story, just drabbles, but both drabble occur in the same universe so I decided to put them together.


	2. road trip

Mako's quality of life lessened with fewer than ten words.

"I think we should go on a road trip!"

This was ridiculous. This was absolutely ridiculous. Mako was only 26 and he already felt his hair greying at the very thought of Korra packing all of their kids into a satomobile and_driving _from Zaofu to Republic City. "Or, we could radio Asami and ask her to send an airship like we normally do," he told her while adjusting his reading glasses on the bridge of his nose; he flipped through another page trying not to disturb Ren, their five year old daughter, who had fallen asleep in his lap.

Korra wasn't even considering his option because it looked likes she'd already made up her mind. Great. "The kids should see the rolling hills of the Earth Kingdom."

"Korra, half of it is a giant desert."

"The dunes! They roll. They are very rolling."

He rolled his eyes and set his book on the table before picking Ren up and carrying her to her room at Su's house. "All five of us in a car for so many hours? Do you realize what you're suggesting."

"Yes; family fun time!"

Mako shushed her loudly—no need to wake up the kids. After tucking her in and pressing a quick kiss to the top of Ren's hair, he led Korra out into the hall to continue with the discussion. "Me driving for hours on end with kids screaming in my ear the entire time isn't really my definition of family fun."

She laughed, shoving his shoulder; she accidentally put a little too much punch into it and Mako stumbled into the wall. "You act like they're terrible kids!"

"They're not but it's just….they're _young." _His three girls were a rambunctious bunch of benders who wanted open space to splash water and throw rocks and blow wind in his face. "Even I'd try to jump ship if I was stuck in car for that long at their age."

"Well, good thing it's a _car _not a ship. They'll be fine. And besides, I'd drive half the way."

"You can't drive," he said, fixing her with a flat look. About as flat as the 8 tires she'd blown in the last year. His detective paycheck couldn't really afford another one. "We'd never make it."

Huffing, she blew a stream of air that ruined the styling of his hair. "I'll show you." and that was that.

Completely and utterly ridiculous.

.

.

Because Mako _didn't _radio Asami for an airship and they were all going to be _stuffed _in a car for hours, he got the awesome task of playing: _How Can I Fit All Our Luggage in the Boot._

"Okay, let's see," he mumbled, taking a look at the pile of things he had arranged at the front of the door to carry out to the car. Besides their bags of necessities, there was also the need for snacks and toys to keep the girls entertained. Well not as much toys as the elements themselves. Emiko liked to have a pouch of water to bend and play with, Ren liked the malleable space rocks Lin and Su had given her (the only thing she could really bend at this point), and of course Luli was content with some marbles so she could do that spinning airbending trick Korra taught her. A trick Mako had seen over a million times but still feigned genuine awe every time.

It's a good thing none of them were firebenders, because he couldn't exactly handle flames in the car.

"I _think _that's everything," he announced to himself once he counted enough baggies of fire flakes to go around. Now it was just a matter of sticking everything in the back of the car.

After carrying it all out, he was thankful that Suyin had loaned them such a spacious car. Maybe Asami would be willing to cover the bill of shipping it back to Zaofu when they made it home. It was a dream worth wishing on as he began the process of loading up the boot.

"Need any help?" Korra asked as she wandered outside, stifling a laugh as Emiko gripped her hand beside her.

Mako tried jamming a piece of luggage diagonally into a pocket of space, but it wasn't going as he hoped. It was all too reminiscent of the jigsaw puzzles Asami made him help her with. "No, I got it."

"You sure?" Korra sang teasingly, finally laughing when two pieces of luggage fell out into the dirt. Fine, laugh it up, Korra. It was her stuff anyway.

"I'll help you!" Emiko announced proudly, totting over to pick up Korra's fallen bag. Even though Korra probably had the least amount of stuff of them all, the bag was still too heavy for her to pick up. "Hold on, gimme a sec!"

Feeling a bit softer, Mako leaned down and placed his hands over hers. "We'll lift it together, okay?" she nodded enthusiastically and after a count of three, Mako lifted the bag off the ground, as well as six year old Emiko. "Emi? Where'd you go?" he gasped overdramatically.

"Mako!" She giggled. "I'm right here!" she kicked her legs around a bit and nudged his knee to make a point.

Korra reached over to grab her and Mako put the suitcase back in its place in the trunk, leaving that one last stubborn bag (his) to be put away. "You can just leave that luggage with me, I'll put it under my feet in the front," Korra told him, reaching for it.

"No, it's okay. I'll make it fit."

She rolled her eyes. "Really, it's fine. Besides, that's the snack bag, isn't it? I should have it anyway."

No, it was not the snack bag. Staring at his perfectly (well, almost) calculated layout of luggage, he not only already put the snack bag in the car, but he had put it at the _very bottom._

"We…might not be leaving as soon as I thought."

"Uh-huh."

.

.

Eventually they got everything and every_one _in the car. It was actually pretty easy considering that Korra had worn the girls out with a few bending games out in one of Su's gardens so by the time they were all buckled in the back, they were already dozing off.

"See?" Korra whispered as Mako pulled out of the city, one arm on the wheel, the other shoving a map in her hands. "This isn't so bad, is it?"

Mako swallowed any sort of snarky comeback because Korra just jinxed the whole thing anyway. But of course it wasn't bad right now. The girls were _sleeping; _eventually, they would have to wake up.

And wake up they did.

"Mako, where are we going?" Ren asked as soon as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. While her behavior could be described as calm and cool, Ren's voice was anything but, and her pitch alone woke Luli and Emiko sitting on either side of her.

They'd only knocked out twenty minutes, tops. He looked at her from his rearview mirror, which he had positioned carefully so he could see them as opposed to the road. A decision he'd regret? He'd find out. "We're going back home, honey."

He saw Ren pouting. "Really? I liked it there. Mrs. Beifong was really nice."

Korra whirled around in her seat and offered a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Renny! We'll come back and visit soon. But Bolin and Asami are very eager to see you again."

Ren's little face lit up instantly at the mention of their friends, and Mako couldn't help but smile.

"Mako?" Luli asked. "Why didn't we take an airship?"

Oh he was loving this question. Ignoring Korra's warning glare Mako explained, "Well, Korra wanted to drive and take the _scenic_ route."

"A little adventure!" Korra cut in before Luli could explain that looking out the window of an airship was the scenic route. "Something new, you know?"

"Does that mean we get to go see the sandshark that almost ate you and Asami in the desert?"

Seven years old and already quite the thrill-seeker. "Adventure, Lu. Not a death wish," Mako chuckled nervously.

It was quiet after that and Mako didn't want to admit that maybe Korra was right. Maybe, just maybe, they'd make it back to Republic City in one piece.

"Mako, how much longer?" Emiko asked.

Nevermind.

.

.

"Luli, stop blowing air in my face."

"But it's _hot _and I'm trying to keep us_ cool."_

"Well, you're messing up my hair!"

"No one but us can see it anyway, why does it matter?"

"It just does!"

Mako heard the sound of splashing water followed by a delighted shriek coming from Luli. Happy, she might be, but he still felt his ears ringing. "Girls, don't yell in the car."

"Sorry," they mumbled half-heartedly. Mako peeked in the rearview mirror and saw that Emiko was bending the water from her pouch and splashing the two of them, pulling the water from their faces and cushions over and over again to keep the cool splash going.

"Hey, Korra?" Emiko wiggled and leaned forward as far as she could from her seat behind Mako. She handed her the little water pouch. "Can you make the water cold? I still can't do ice."

Again, Korra whirled around in her passenger seat as best her seatbelt would allow. "Aw, c'mon, sure you can! We had a few lessons about it, remember? You just haven't had much practice. Go ahead and give it a few tries."

Emiko pouted at the prospect of failing, but she gave it a shot. There was a lot of grunting and squeaking as she did all sorts of tricks to try and get the water to cool down. Probably ten minutes of it, if Mako's oncoming headache was any proof. But he bit his tongue and let her try—it was worth it when five minutes later, he heard the distinct cracking of ice.

"I did it!" Emiko squealed. In her excitement her little feet pushed against the back of Mako's seat and he lunged forward, his chest hitting the steering wheel a bit.

"Nice one, Emi! I knew you could do it!" Korra congratulated, throwing her a thumbs up. "You should be very proud. I know Mako and I are, right?"

"Of course," he told her, meeting her eyes in the rear view mirror. It was things like this that made such a long drive a little more bearable. "Well done, sweetheart."

"I think this calls for a little celebration, don't you think?"

"Korra," Mako warned. He knew where this was going. They were on a timed schedule here and they couldn't afford any detours. Just last night he had mapped out the shortest distance possible in order to assure the most comfortable ride home. Stopping would completely ruin his plan. His awesomely planned plan. But it was too late. At the mention of celebration, the girls knew _exactly _what that meant.

"ICE CREAM."

.

.

Mako pulled over at the first town he could whilst trying to ignore the weird chant-like song Ren had created about her favorite flavor (which, 200 chants of the word "strawberry" later, Mako was sure he would never forget it). They managed to find a little restaurant that sold ice cream, boasting more flavors than Mako had even seen at the shops in Republic City.

"Korra, can I sit with you?" Emiko begged, tugging her hand to a corner booth.

"Me too, me too!" Ren exclaimed, letting go of Mako's hand and grabbing on to Korra's leg. She laughed at the whole ordeal and even indulged them by marching around like a monster due to the clinging.

As they slid into the booth, Luli crawled in after Mako on his side, resting her head on his forearm. He gently lifted her head and repositioned his arm so he could wrap it around her, dropping a kiss to her head. "Tired?"

She nuzzled his chest with her nose. "No," but the very word was sleep laced itself.

Across the table, Korra grinned at the scene, her hands busy with giving Ren a noogie. A waitress came by and set down some menus, and even threw in some paper and crayons for the kids. "Hey y'all, my name's Mei. What can I get you?"

He rapped his knuckled gently against Luli's skull. "What sounds good?"

She looked up at him and asked, "Can I have some soup?"

That…wasn't an ice cream flavor. Frowning, Mako looked at Korra across the table, who wore a knowing grin. "You forgot to include lunch time in your little master trip plan, cool guy."

Oh.

Because he wasn't too fond of that smirk on her face, he kicked at Korra's shins from under the table; her eyes lit up with mischief and she kicked him back, _hard. _"I need that leg to drive," he gruffed, voice pained.

"I could always drive?"

"I don't think so."

.

.

Lunch took a while, mostly because Korra had to make sure most of her soup made it to Ren's mouth and not all over her tunic. And as promised, the girls got their ice cream—strawberry, peach, mint—and Korra even ordered some for Mako ("How about the salted caramel? Something salty for someone _salty_.")

Real cute, Korra.

(It was delicious, but she didn't need to know that.)

They had narrowly made it to the car before the storm hit (Okay, so not part of his stellar plan, But hey, what was a little rain?) and he even managed to keep the keys out of Korra's hands. He pulled out onto the dirt road (mud) and hoped and prayed it wouldn't get too heavy that he couldn't see out the front window.

But of course wishes were useless.

The rain hit the car sideways and Mako could feel the car swerve every once in a while from the wind. "Good thing Su lent us a car with a top and windows, huh?" Korra joked. "We'd be soaked."

"Mako," Luli asked from the back, "How are you seeing out the front?"

Truth be told, he _wasn't _but he wouldn't let them know that. "I've got real good eyes."

"No one's eyes are that good," she challenged.

"Sure they are. It's a firebender thing," Mako lied, and Korra made some sort of choked laughter. "I see light better than anyone else."

Korra put her feet on the dashboard. "I'd really love to hear this."

"Reaaallly?" Emiko asked.

"Really Really. Fire is light, right? So, I can see…more light." That sounded terrible. "Why do you think Chief Beifong gives me the nightshift? I can see fine. Don't worry."

There was a whimper and Korra peeked in the backseat. "Mako, pull over."

No way, no more detours. "What? Korra, I _told _you the rain isn't _that bad—"_

There was a lightning and a crack of thunder that so wasn't helping his point.

"Pull over," she demanded and when Mako looked in his rearview mirror he saw just why.

Already going quite slow, Mako pulled over and turned the engine off just as Korra unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed in the back to comfort a very shaky Ren. "Hey, Renny," she cooed, squeezing her way in between Luli and Emiko; she took Ren's seat and sat the small girl right in her lap. "What's the matter?"

"Mommy and Daddy died because they drove in the rain," she whispered, burying her face in Korra's chest. "Please don't drive in the rain. It's not safe."

Instantly, Mako felt incredibly guilty. As lucky as they were that Ren wasn't scared to get back into a satomobile, he had forgotten that it had been _raining _when she and her parents got in a wreck. "I won't turn the car back on until it stops raining," Mako told her.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Four being a bit of a crowd, Luli crawled up to the front passenger's bench and bounced around, enjoying the slight increase in space, before she clung to Mako's side. He felt bump like ridges on her skin when she leaned against him, and when he looked down he noticed she was shivering a bit. "You cold, pumpkin?" he asked, rubbing his hands along her arms in a pathetic attempt to rid of her of the goose bumps on her arm; he dropped a kiss to the top of her head.

"A little," she admitted softly, rubbing her nose into his arm. Her hair was still a little damp from the water games with Emiko in the backseat. "From all the ice."

He couldn't draw the water from her, and since Korra was a little busy whispering to Ren to calm her down in the back, Mako decided he could at least try to warm her up. Slipping his gloves off, he held them in one hand over the other. In his open palm, he lit a flame that warmed up the worn leather gloves, the light illuminating the cracks in material. Once they were warm, he handed them to Luli. "Try these."

Luli slipped them on, and with their difference in size, his fingerless gloves almost covered her fingers. She was sent into a fit of giggles at the sight. "They're big!" she clapped her hands together, trying it out; the sheer movement made them slip halfway off.

Outside, the rain started to hit the glass windows with a little less speed and a little less intensity. "Sounds like the rain is already starting to let up!" Korra exclaimed from the backseat. Mako whirled around and saw that while Ren's eyes were still a bit red and puffy, she had a broad grin on her face. "We'll be back on the road in no time."

"Korra, are you going to drive?" Emiko asked.

Korra hissed in uncertainty. "I can't." and in Mako's humble opinion, she sounded way too theatrical about the whole thing.

"Why not?"

"Mako won't let me." Again, theatrical, judging by her unwarranted and trademarked pout. She was going to try and use their kids to sway his decision.

All three of his girls stared at him. "Why won't you let her drive?"

"Because," he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "She isn't a very good driver."

"What!?"

"No way!"

"Korra's good at everything."

Mako really wished Emiko hadn't said that, especially when Korra's face bloomed in pride and smugness. "Korra's good at a lot of things. But driving isn't one of them."

"The kids disagreeeeee," Korra sung as she stuck her head up front, one of her ponytails rubbing against Mako's cheek. "Let me drive!"

"Are you seriously whining? I didn't know I had _four _daughters," Mako joked, just as Korra clamped down on his earlobe. Ow. She was definitely a child at heart.

She went further to prove that point when she practically leaped into the front bench and into Mako's lap. He was not particularly appreciative of how she wiggled around; her knees jabbed him in the shoulder, elbows pushing into the steering wheel and setting off the horn. With one of her hands pressed against his face, she used the other to yank the keys out of the ignition before she tumbled to the passenger's side of the bench, narrowly missing Luli in the process. Using their daughter as armor, Korra held the keys as far away as possible. "Family fun time includes letting me drive. C'mon, Mako, it'll be fun!"

Fine, if she wanted to play this game, he'd play it. "Want to have some fun? Fine. Let's play a trivia game. You win, you get to drive for the rest of the trip."

Her eyes narrowed at the mention of trivia. Probably because along with driving, trivia was also one of the things Korra wasn't good at. Being locked up at the compound her whole life didn't make her very knowledgeable of technological and popular culture. "What kind of trivia?"

"Name Sato Industries most popular model car."

"Oh, come _on!"_ But halfway through her outburst, she paused and declared, "I'd like to radio a friend."

"Asami doesn't count."

"Well, then never mind, you unfair prick."

"Don't like that one? Okay. Sports. What was the first all-girls probending team?"

Korra huffed. "If you're going to play dirty, fine. How many airbending moves must a person learn in order to become a master?"

"Okay, that's information that's only be limited to a very select people over the last 200 years—"

"What about waterbending? Or earthbending? But if that's too hard let's just go with the 32nd Avatar. Nation and name, or no credit."

"You're the _only _one with that library in your head!"

"Earth to Mako, that library sank like Wong Shi Tong's the day I fought Vaatu."

"If you didn't know the answer, then why'd you ask it?"

"I was just going to make something up. I knew _you_ didn't know the answer."

"That's not fair!"

"Like you challenging _me_ to trivia _is_?"

"Uhhh, Korra? Mako?"

"What!?" The two of them screeched, spinning around at the same time.

Emiko had Ren's head in her lap as she tapped on the car window. "It…stopped raining. We can go now."

"Mako," Luli sighed, "Just let her drive. How bad could it be?"

.

.

Bad. It was really, really bad.

Aside from the fact that they had to pull over twice because Ren got car sick and they wasted forty minutes when Mako had to change the tire she blew, Korra's driving skills were generally…frightening. As they got closer to Republic City, they met some of the traffic that came with the city. The metro areas around the town had enough cars to cause Mako to have a few heart attacks. Korra changed lanes needlessly, cut it a little too close to other cars when she tended to hug the line, and had a nauseating tendency to speed.

"I feel as an officer of the law, I need to remind you that you're going way too fast," Mako told her when she cut off an angry mail trucker who threw them the finger. (Something Ren asked for clarification in with a demonstration. That was going to be fun to un-teach when they got home.)

Korra looked at the speedometer on the dashboard. "I'm only going five over. Even _you_told me you don't pull people over for going five over."

"I will now," Mako grumbled.

"Look," she grumbled, "I'm trying to beat rush hour traffic. I think I speak for all of us when I say I don't want to be sitting on Yue Bridge trying to get into the city for over an hour."

"We're going to hit rush hour traffic regardless," Mako explained, "So there's no need to drive recklessly."

"I'm not driving recklessly!"

"You are!"

Korra started tailing the car in front of them and Mako pressed his foot onto the floor of the car in anticipation of a crash. "Brakes are over here, Mako. You stomping over there isn't going to make the car stop."

"Then would you _please_ slow down?"

They did slow down. They came to a halting stop. In rush hour traffic.

It only took seven minutes for everyone to get restless. "Mako?" Luli sighed, "Is my glider in the back?"

He knew the next question before she even asked it, so he skipped a few steps. "You can't fly home, Lu."

"Aww."

Ren's head lolled around. "Are we there yet?"

The steering wheel cracked a bit under Korra's strong grip. "Not yet."

"How much longer?"

"Not sure."

"Why don't you know?"

"Ren," Mako sighed, "Don't ask Korra so many questions while she's driving."

"We're not driving," Emiko pointed out. "We're sitting. On the bridge. Mako, why are none of the cars moving?"

"Because," and Mako already regretted opening his mouth, "There's so many, they can't all go the same way at the same time."

"Then….why don't they make the roads longer?"

"It doesn't work like that, Emi."

"Why not?"

"It just doesn't."

"Mako," Luli sat up in her seat and started patting around. "Do you have a siren to put on top? Then we could just move past all these people, right?"

Illegal, absolutely, but Mako would be willing to put up with Beifong's punishment for a plan like that. Unfortunately, he didn't have a siren, so he went with the parent-safe 'it's wrong' speech that he was sure Tenzin would be proud of. "No, that would be wrong. It's only used for emergencies."

"This is an emergency," Ren whined. "We're not _moving."_ She kicked her little feet into the back of Korra's seat. "Are we _there _yet?"

Korra's hands slapped onto the middle of the wheel, signaling the horn and causing about a dozen other cars to do the same. _"We'll get there when we get there!"_

Mako added 'driving patience' to the list of things Korra wasn't good at.

_._

_._

It took two more hours, but hey, they all got there in one piece.

Well, apart from Mako's soul—he was pretty sure this little road trip hadn't left that part of him intact. They reached the city by nightfall and after having to take two detours for road construction and having to park a mile away from their apartment, they left the luggage in the car and decided to get it in the morning—besides, the two of them had their hands full toting a sleeping Ren and Emiko back to the apartment.

"That was interesting," Luli commented, using her glider as a walking stick as the three of them walked the streets of the brightly lit city.

"How so?" Mako whispered tiredly, trying to ignore Ren's drool on his shoulder.

"Just was," Luli giggled, "and you were right. Korra's a terrible driver."

"Hey!" Korra barked, and Emiko stirred in her arms, wrapping her little hands tighter around Korra's shoulders. "Hey," she repeated, softer, "I wasn't _that _bad!"

"Ren _threw up!"_

Mako laughed. "It's true," and he knocked his hip ever so gently into Korra's. "Even I threw up."

"When?"

"I swallowed it."

"Okay, gross."

Luli skipped a few steps ahead, using her airbending to flip over a parking meter. "But I still think we should try again! We didn't even get to see that much."

To Mako, that seemed worse. There would still be five of them (possibly more, if Korra had her way) but they'd still have to fit in one car. "Maybe one day," he admitted. "We can bring Asami, Bolin, Tenzin, Jinora…and we can take an airship." Emphasis was put on the airship.

Korra perked up. "Or maybe…a bison!"

Oh no.

Luli's eyes lit up. "A bison!? Really!? You think Uncle Tenzin would let us borrow one?"

"You bet!"

Oh no, no, _no._

"Ooh, ooh!" Luli was bouncing up and down as she climbed up their apartment steps. "Maybe we can take _my _bison one day! Jinora said I can have my very own once I'm an airbending master!"

"An even better plan!"

Mako wasn't too sure about that. "Seriously, what's wrong with airships?" He grumbled as he fished through his pockets one handed in search for the house key.

"Mako's just cranky because he always gets bugs in his teeth when we fly on Oogi," Korra snickered.

And on his motorcycle. And on Korra's glider. It's why airships were better. God, he wished Asami was here to back him up. "Okay, we'll talk about it later, maybe when everyone's awake," Mako told them.

"Right," Korra agreed. "As a family."

"Yeah," he said softly, opening the door and letting Luli and Korra in ahead. "As a family."

Where he would be inevitably outvoted 4:1, but hey, it wouldn't be family fun time if he wasn't.

.

.

AN: THIS IS SO GROSSSS it's in the same universe as the last story tho. I was going to make one more where they pick up one more kid (lmao) idk if I'll ever get to it. you'll have to harass me into it.


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